The Future
by fabledwords
Summary: "He's our leader, plus, he's half Galra, so I think he's, like, the future." -Lance about Keith (season seven, episode four) The story takes place after the events from season seven. Klance will be cannon, and stakes are going to be higher than anything they have faced before. (A/N: the story gets better after two three chapters. Aslo, a better summary coming soon)
1. Keith

Keith could sense him before he actually saw him.

As he entered the training deck, the clashing sound stopped, and Lance fumbled with his sword, looking flushed and averting his gaze away from Keith.

"I was, um, just-"

"-practicing," Keith finished, as the robot, Lance was training with, disarmed him of his sword and landed a blowing kick on Lance's chest.

"Ow," Lance winced, rubbing his sore chest. The robot deactivated. Coran had recreated the training deck from Castle of Lions in Galaxy Garrison and had added some special tweaks. But with the rebuilding of the city and Galaxy Garrison, the paladins or the any of the other cadets had any time for practice. It was usually just Keith around here, and occasionally James or Acxa. Seeing Lance here was a surprise. Much less see him here with a sword.

"So, a sword?" Keith asked, offering his hand to Lance. Which he took it, and got up, still looking flushed.

"Your stance is all wrong." Keith continued.

Lance looked up this time, his features easing now. "I know. That's what Allura said."

Allura, huh. Keith thought. Lance was spending a lot of time with Allura. And Keith was trying his hardest to not let that fact bother him. What Keith wanted, what he desired, was unattainable. Keith wasn't even sure if they were even friends. They were two people who were thrown in together because of some messed up series of coincidences. Lance was his right man. He was the man he would trust to lead Voltron in his absence. And he did consider him as a friend. But Lance, Keith wondered, what did he think of Keith?

"I just wanted to get some swings in before dinner," Lance said, his voice almost a whisper. If Keith wasn't standing right next to him, it would have stayed unheard.

"Okay. I'll help you practice." The words were out before he could think. Lance looked as taken back as Keith felt. But all he knew, was Lance looked troubled, and he wanted to help. "What? With that stance, and those swings, you won't last a minute in real battle."

"Gee, thanks, Keith." Lance rolled his eyes. But he did tighten his grip on the sword. A broadsword.

"First, your stance. Bend your knees a little, and feet wide apart. No, not too wide." Keith said, while getting out his Marmorite blade. "Second, always pay attention to your surroundings." Keith's blade transformed into a long curved like sword, and with one motion, he disarmed the sword of out Lance's hand.

"Hey!" Lance protested.

"That means, stop staring at your shoes." Keith suppressed a smile.

Lance pouted. "You are an awful teacher."

"Your grip is weak. You are still too conscious about yourself. You need to focus more on the surroundings."

Lance picked up his sword as Keith kept rattling on some points. Most, vague at best. Keith was not good with words, much less good with teaching. Krolia was the one who could properly assist Lance. Keith made a mental note to ask his mother to train Lance as they swung around their swords a couple of times. That's when Pidge came in.

"Hey. Hey! I have been looking for you guys," she shouted from the entry. "We need to report in for an emergency meeting in the briefing room."

"What?" Lance groaned. "Isn't the rebuilding completed already? And I just getting used to understanding Keith's teaching style."

"It isn't about the rebuilding. Now, move it!"

And they did.

Present in the briefing room were his mother, Kolivan, Iverson, Hunk, Matt, captain Olia, the MFE fighters, even Romelle and few other members. Standing in front of the screen, looking stressed was Allura, Sam Holt and Shiro.

Keith went and sat next to his mother.

The talking stopped, and Allura turned to address the group. "Is everyone here now?"

"Um, Coran is not here," Hunk mentioned.

"Coran," Allura began. Her voice strained and her face wrinkled into stress lines. "He's seeing to something."

A wave of deja vu washed over Keith.

No, not deja vu, Keith corrected himself. He looked at Krolia, who gave him a knowing look. This was one of the scenes they had seen in the glimpses of future during the time spent travelling through the quantum abyss. They knew exactly what Allura was going to say next. She was going to mention that the power source of the robeast they fought earlier was finally salvaged from the sea.

And sure enough, as on cue, Allura said, "As you all know, we have been searching and gathering pieces of the robeast from earlier. And we didn't find its power source. Until now."

Keith could feel the entire room holding it's breath. It could begin to explain the origin of the robeast and possibly gain some leads on their next threat. But, he couldn't figure why Allura looked so stressed. The glimpse hadn't shown this entire event, and that's why what Allura said next, left everyone, including Keith, confused.

"It was- the robeast was, powered by an Altean."


	2. Lance

"Altean? Aren't you an Altean, Princesss Allura?" James was the first to break the silence. "The race whose home planet was destroyed by the Galra. The same race who created Voltron. So why would they now choose to destroy it?" What he said, was what everyone in the room was thinking.

Lance glanced at Allura. She looked ill at ease. "What you say, is the truth. My father created Voltron to spread peace throughout the universe. Zarkon wanted Voltron for himself and for that, Altea and all it's people suffered. In no possible reality would an Altean willingly take arms against Voltron."

Allura was strong. You could see it in the way she stood tall despite being anxious. The way her words carried weight, and Lance admired Allura for her strength. Not some time ago she found out that she wasn't the last Altean alive. A colony of survivors existed on a remote planet beyond the quantum abyss, being experiments by Zarkon's son for their quintessence. And then they were gone. Only now, one showed up in giant robeast that was the cause for the almost death of the paladins.

"It has to be Haggar. She somehow found the Altean colony before us and is keeping them somewhere, using them for their quintessence just like Lotor."

"The technology used in the robeast is much more advanced than current Galra tech." Sam Holt, adjusted his glasses, and pulled up some photos and graphs on the big screen in the front. "It actually looks like that Altean technology has been integrated with Galran. It mimics Voltron, but instead of pure quintessence already present, it uses the quintessence of the Altean. That is the power source."

The picture of the power source, an Altean girl popped up. Romelle gasped when she saw it.

"That girl- I-I know her. Not personally, but- I mean, she was there on that planet with me." Romelle was choking on her words, and Hunk was gently rubbing her back, murmuring soothing words.

"I'm sorry to hear that Romelle," Allura gave her an sympathetic look. "That confirms that Haggar captured those Alteans. "

"That hardly confirms it," Sam interrupted. "An Altean isn't a neverending source. But, what Katie had said earlier, the robeast uses the same quintessence absorbing method as Komar. That's how it recharges itself and increases it's power. This however does indicate the witch's work."

"Did the Blade of Marmora found any intel on Haggar's whereabouts." Shiro asked Kolivan.

"Negative. We are still spread too thin. However, Acxa is on a mission to infiltrate Ezor and Zethrid's base to gather information."

"The Altean we found is still alive. Barely. But alive. Coran is finishing up the rejuvenation pods as we speak. Once she heals we can question her. But that will take too much time. We are completely in the dark right now." Allura.

"The best group of engineers and I are trying to improve our fighters. The readings from that power source are off the limits when fed quintessence. Similar to Voltron's. If Haggar is preparing an army of those robeasts, then we would be annihilated within seconds."

"Wait, dad, go back." Matt suddenly got up." To the previous screen. Sam did.

"Those readings, I have seen them before. While scanning for fellow rebels I picked up those readings from a nearby system from my location." He said, moving around his seat, up to the front, where he fumbled his hands in his pocket and got out a small circular disk.

"Here," he said, and clicked it. A map projected. "The area was however inaccessible."

"Matt, that's genius," Pidge, slammed her hands on the table and stood up. " It's possible that is where the robeast originated from. Or where more are present. The teludav is almost completed. We can open a teludav and send in some blades or we ourselves can go and check it out. However, Allura would have to stay here to create the wormhole, so we won't have Voltron-"

"No Pidge. The entire system is inaccessible."

"The boy is right," Kolivan spoke. "It's a heat system. Volcanic planets and gas planets, most with unstable cores and at least two blue stars. Though there are about three inhabitable planets. Which is most likely where the code is coming from."

"But you can't fly in the system without proper information to recaliberate your fighter to the conditions there," Matt added

"That should be no problem. I have been working on making some adjustments to our lions. Recaliberating would be easy once we are there."

"There is also a thick asteroid belt present. If you run into enemy fighters, it would be hard to navigate out without Voltron. Is there a way Romelle could create the wormhole?" Matt asked.

Allura shook her head. "It's true that the teludav uses Altean power. But not all Alteans are capable of powering the teludav." Silence fell on the briefing room once again.

Lance looked at Keith. He looked focused in his thoughts. And Lance knew up to some extent where his mind was going to. Keith was an excellent pilot. He could easily navigate through the asteroid belt.

A memory surfaced up in Lance's mind. Blue star, he had heard this before. And now he knew why. Keith had navigated around the blue star to enter the Blade of Marmora headquarters. It was back when he had Red Lion. She could withstand high pressure of heats. Lance jerked back to reality, he saw Keith open his mouth, but before any sound could come out, Lance was speaking.

"I'll do it."

Keith's head whipped around at his direction. But before he could protest, Lance continued. "Red can withstand heat. And she is the most agile among all the lions. It would only make sense."

"But Lance-"

"No, it's okay Allura," he stopped her. He wasn't really sure why he was doing it. His body had reacted before his mind. One second he was thinking about Keith volunteering and the next he was volunteering in his place. "We only need to know what's in that location right? It's a one man mission. You can wormhole me and Red there and we will be in and out in a varga. You, Pidge, and others can work right here on Earth on upping our defenses and firepower."

"What Lance is saying, does makes sense." Shiro said, and looked at him straight in the eyes. Lance felt a bit intimidated but he didn't show. "Are you sure about this?"

Lance side glanced at Keith. He was still looking at him. Was he angry? He couldn't tell. "Yes."

"Good, start the preparations. How long till the teludav is working?"

"It will take a quint- I mean an entire day." Allura said.

"I'll help. We can divert the work from the fighters to the teludav and have it finished by morning tomorrow." Pidge offered. Allura smiled at her in acknowledgement. And then, she smiled at Lance when nobody was looking. They were already getting up to leave. Lance knew it meant a lot to her. Is that why he did it? He wasn't sure. But now, there was no backing down.


End file.
